Eka Beselia calls for more leniency for Georgia’s women inmates

Eka Beselia is head of parliament’s human rights committee. (Interpressnews.)

TBILISI, DFWatch–A leading parliamentarian from Georgia’s ruling coalition asks the president to consider pardoning or easing the sentences of more women.

Eka Beselia, head of the human rights committee in parliament, said in a speech a few days ago that the government is working to adjust facilities for women to create better conditions, as ‘it is particularly difficult’ for them to serve a prison sentence. She said there are plans to refurbish outdated infrastructure and called for a ‘more humane’ approach.

President Giorgi Margvelashvili has pardoned 59 female prisoners since 2013, his administration’s spokesperson Tinatin Mzhavanadze said on Monday, but about 250 women are still in jail.

Mzhavanadze said that after Margvelashvili declared 2015 a women’s year, more attention is being paid to the rights of women.